There are a variety of reasons as to why you might experience arm pain or discomfort when exercising. You could have an injury without knowing it or you could be suffering from heart problems. It's important to let your doctor know what type of pain or discomfort you experience when exercising and to let him know exactly what you were doing at the time of the discomfort. Do not assume why you have discomfort or attempt to treat yourself.
Heart Problems
You may suffer from angina, which is a squeezing or pressing sensation in the chest. Angina can cause arm, shoulder, neck and jaw pain in addition to pain in your chest. FamilyDoctor.org notes that mild pain may dissipate after a minute or two of rest. For severe pain, you may require heart medication called nitroglycerin to treat your condition. It's possible that you could experience angina only while doing certain activities, such as exercising, and it will go away when you become less active or begin to rest; this is known as unstable angina. Stable angina is a constant pressure or squeezing of the chest that never goes away no matter what you do.
Muscle Strain
You could experience arm discomfort while exercising if you have a muscle strain. You can develop a muscle strain due to tightening a muscle or from overstretching the muscle. A muscle strain can also occur when a muscle is used too much or too often with little to no rest. Muscle strains can range from mild or moderate to severe. Treatment will depend upon the severity of the muscle strain. Your doctor may recommend over-the-counter anti-inflammatory pain relievers, such as ibuprofen, or may prescribe muscle relaxers to help your muscle rest until you've made a full recovery.
Biceps Tendon Tear at the Shoulder
Your biceps muscle is located at the front, upper portion of your arm. Tendons attach muscles to bones. Your biceps tendon attaches your biceps muscle at the top of your arm to your shoulder and at the bottom of the muscle to your elbow bone. This tendon can tear when you've overstretched or lifted something that was too heavy, such as a weight, or if you've overused the tendon. You can lose strength in your arm and not be able to fully use your arm until you've completely recovered.
Elbow Pain
Elbow pain can occur due to tendinitis or injury of the tendons. You can develop tennis elbow from injuring the tendons on the outside of the elbow --- which is opposite of tendinitis that affects tendons inside the elbow. Nursemaid's elbow, or partial dislocation of the elbow, is most common in young children and occurs when someone is pulling on the arm once it's completely straightened. The bones become momentarily stretched apart and a ligament slips and gets trapped when the elbow bone attempts to snap back into place.
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